Ana rolls on

Ana stormed into the fourth round of the US Open in New York, defeating Virginie Razzano from France in just 66 minutes. The 22-year-old came through 7-5, 6-0 on Louis Armstrong stadium.

Ana led by a break in the opening period of the first set twice, but surrendered her advantage on both occasions. At 5-5, Ana amassed another three break points and broke the Frenchwoman for the third time. At these critical moments the crowd gave their full support to the 22-year-old and drove Ana to produce those little extras. She was thankful and won the first set 7-5 after 45 minutes.

In the flush of the victory of the first set, Ana was unchained and broke Razzano three more times in the second to hold a 5-0 lead almost instantly.

With powerful tennis from the baseline and cute finesse at the net, Ana overwhelmed the Frenchwoman as she made just two unforced errors in the second set and put a whitewash scoreline on the records for the second match in a row.

While signing autographs an especially enthusiastic group of supporters asked Ana for a hug, and she duly obliged. The 2008 French Open champion wore a smile as wide as the Brooklyn Bridge as she equalled her best ever showing in New York (she lost in round four to Venus Williams three years ago).

During her post-match press conference the former world No.1, who is the youngest active Grand Slam champion, was asked if she feels she is approaching her best form. "Yeah, I definitely do," she said.

"I have been saying that for a while. It's hard to believe it when you don't have results to prove it. But I really feel I'm playing a lot better, sort of things are starting to come back, come together out on the court as well. So I'm really thrilled about that."